I hope you don't mind if I offer an alternative way of thinking about Jhana practice.
No, not at all! I appreciate everyone's constructive input.
For starters, I would suggest that the ability to feel bliss/rapture is a separate faculty distinct from concentration. Indeed, I think you can be highly developed in concentration, but have little skill in sensing bliss. Or you can be skilled in sensing bliss, but actually not very developed in concentration (though you certainly need some).
So, if you haven't experienced bliss, it may be that you simply haven't developed that faculty yet. ("Just as if a skilled bathman or bathman's apprentice would pour bath powder into a brass basin and knead it together, sprinkling it again and again with water...")
Interesting, I've been thinking along vaguely similar lines, but more in terms of what I may or may not be allowing myself.
I would even say that deep concentration is easier when one isn't experiencing much bliss/pleasure. For example, if you have a little pleasure, but not alot (or maybe just neutral sensations), the awareness stays balanced, and a wonderful peace settles in the mind. It is tempting to call that Jhana (e.g., "Look, I've skipped to the third Jhana!"), but I don't think that's what the Buddha had in mind.
I have no idea! I don't know what's going on! (ha ha!) I can say that my experiences tend to be pleasant enough that I often don't want to come out of them when the bell rings. If the concentration is deep enough, the bell doesn't even phase me and I may sit for an extra fifteen minutes or even half an hour (I typically sit for an hour a day). This whole issue is leading me to re-assess my practice - finding a better balance between effort and ease, and deciding which methods to prioritize, given the time I can devote to "cushion time".
Joy/Bliss/Pleasure/Rapture needs to be present because it is both a factor and an obstacle for concentration. On the one hand, bliss is helpful because it can keep you absorbed as the mind wants to stay with the experience. On the other hand, bliss is also an obstacle because it tends to invade awareness and dissipate one's calm (e.g., "Yay, this is great!"). When bliss/pleasure becomes predominant, it becomes much more challenging to maintain a balanced mind. In my view, this is where much of the "corruption of insight" comes from. But that's not a bad thing. Its an important place to be.
My "working hypothesis" is that training the mind to stay balanced in the presence of bliss/pleasure is absolutely essential. Without the presence of that bliss, concentration (or insight) doesn't really undo the deep conditioning of the mind, no matter how absorbed you are. If you're not experiencing much physical bliss, you're not really "stretching" your capacity to keep a calm awareness. You're just calm.
With metta,
Dylan
Not sure exactly what you mean by "stretching" capacity...
As outlined in my previous posts, I have experienced bliss during meditation before. What I mean is a strong pervasive joy which fills the mind and body and is sustained for some time. But this never happened in the context of concentration practice. Once it occurred during vipassana practice - I became mindful of a dull ache in my arm. As I watched the pain break up into its constituent parts - burning, tingling, etc., I was overcome by bliss and deep calm which continued through the sitting. Another time was meditating on altruistic joy, as I saw envy arise it was overcome by the intention to be happy for the success of others. This also led to an extended experience of bliss and peace. It was quite powerful, and almost as strong as the experience I had while reading a book - where it was the realization of all I had to be thankful for, which triggered the bliss. In that case I was not meditating, and I stayed in that state even as I went about activities, (showering, talking to my wife, etc.)
I repeat all this so that it's perfectly clear that I was
expecting to attain a similar feeling in jhana, and since I hadn't, I was/am confused as to the nature of the concentration I've attained. That's all. None of these experiences have any precedent in my life. One of the things I plan to do is try kasina practice as Beoman suggested, and work on relaxing more, to see if this heightens the experience in any way. But I don't want to get too sidetracked by all this. Thanks for your thoughtful comments, the whole issue of just what "jhana"
is, has helped me see deeper into my practice, as well as being a reminder to
pay attention!